NORFOLK, Va. - The Old Dominion women's rowing team competed in the Oyster Reef Regatta over the weekend in Norfolk, Va. The first time regatta consisted of racing along a 4,500-meter course in eights and fours against Navy and North Carolina. ODU had three boats in both races.

"All in all, I believe our top 30 athletes performed well," said ODU head coach Dan Garbutt. "Great experience for our freshman to have against such strong competition early and collect some solid data on where we need to focus our development going forward. Back to work."

Before the races even began the ODU team wore black T-shirts which says in green (green for lymphoma) 'ODU Rowing' on the front and 'Row for Bob' on the back. Bob is ODU head coach Garbutt's brother who has lymphoma, however according to coach is doing well.

The Lady Monarchs finished in second place in the W4 College race. Coxswain Lydia Cleveland led the varsity four to a time of 19.58, which was 1.5 seconds just behind Navy's 19.56.

The second varsity four finished in fifth with a time of 20.50 and the third varsity four finished in ninth place with a time of 21.25.

In the W8 race, ODU's 'A' boat finished in third place with a time of 17.55. The Lady Monarchs 'B' boat finished in fifth with a time of 18.12, while their 'C' boat finished in seventh place with a time of 19.02.

Eights

1. UNC A: 17:30.0

2. NAVY A: 17:32.3

3. ODU A: 17:55.0

4. NAVY B: 18:05.4

5. ODU B: 18:12.1

6. UNC B: 18:54.6

7. ODU C: 19:02.5

8. NAVY C: 19:14.4

Fours

1. NAVY A: 19:56.4

2. ODU A: 19:58.1

3. UNC A: 20:15.0

4. UNC B: 20:47.1

5. ODU B; 20:50.5

6. NAVY C: 20:53.1

7. UNC C: 20:55.3

8. NAVY B: 21:05.0

9. ODU C: 21:25.9

10. UNC D: 22:35.3

"We received great feeback [concerning the race] from each boat," said ODU co-captain Miranda Brown. "It was a great day for racing and it is just the beginning for ODU rowing!"